In an unexpected announcement, India announced on Monday that it had excluded over 40,00,000 people from a draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, who could not produce valid documents. The move immediately sent across a wave of fear for the future of the thousands in the region. Long been the centre of social and communal tensions with locals campaigning against illegal immigrants, Assam also borders Bangladesh and is home to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims.
The much-awaited final draft of the NRC was published with over 28.9 million names, out of the total 32.9 million applicants in the state. The 40,07,000 applicants however, did not find a place in the historic document, which is touted to be a proof of Assamese identity. NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela said the exercise was carried out as per the instructions of the Supreme Court. He said four categories of people - doubtful voters, their descendants, people whose cases were pending at foreigners tribunals and their offspring, were not included in the list. He however, declined to comment on non-inclusion of the other applicants. He added that people can reapply for inclusion at NRC seva kendras from August 30 to September 28. “No genuine Indian citizen should have any fear,” he said.
Satyendra Garg, joint secretary (northeast), Union Home Ministry too, sought to assuage fears. He said, “We are not calling them Indians or non-Indians. At present, no action will be taken as the claims, objections and corrections process has to be undertaken.” Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the process had been impartial and transparent, and appealed to people to refrain from making “communal and inflammatory remarks”. India's census commissioner, Sailesh spoke to the media and said, “Based on this draft, there is no question of anyone being taken to detention centres or foreigners' tribunal.”
Hundreds of people fled to India from Bangladesh during its war of independence from Pakistan in the early 1970s. Most of them settled in Assam, which has almost a 270 km border with Bangladesh. Over 30 million people had applied and 4,007,707 had been excluded from the list, Sailesh said. All residents of Assam had to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in the country before March 24, 1971.
Critics, however, see the test as yet another measure supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party aimed at minority Muslims. The first draft of the NRC, released on December 31, confirmed the citizenship of 19 million people. It however, told the SC this month that 150,000 people from the first list, a third of them married people, would be dropped from the next one, mainly because they provided false information or gave inadmissible documents.
